This movie is based on the novel Arkansas by John Brandon and ids the directorial debut of Clark Duke.
Kyle Ribb (played by Liam Hemsworth) is a small time drug dealer, working in a big time organisation ran by drug Kingpin "Frog". We see Kyle about his business, then he is seen sat in a house, the house seemingly his, where he is seen watching TV. Then there is a knock at the door, to which Kyle ignores, other that a quick look. Then there is a noise of someone trying to pick the lock. These leads Kyle to get up from his chair and check out the perpetrator through the spy hole, then waiting. As the guy manages to open the door, Kyle is ready behind the door to take him to the floor and restrain him. Next scene is the burglar tied up and gagged in the cupboard, Kyle then gets a visitor, someone he knows from the gang. He is very impressed that Kyle has managed to do what he has done in restraining the guy, saving him a job. This leads to Kyle getting a promotion. The promotion involves moving to Arkansas to move "wholesale". He then is seen meeting Swin Horn (played by Clark Duke himself), Swin is a very talkative and confident character, which seems to annoy the placid, quieter Kyle. Their first assignment is to drive a flat bed lorry with the "wholesale" product hidden by an assortment of boxes with pictures of sinks on them. While on their journey to Corpus Christi, the rope holding down the tarpaulin breaks, forcing them to stop off to try and get something to assist in keeping it down. This is where they run into park ranger Bright (played by John Malkovich). He inspects the truck and the two think that they are caught. As it happens, Bright also works for "Frog", and has been trailing them all the way from their journey's start. This then sets up the story-line and shows the journey that they have. Vince Vaughn also stars in this movie, i will not go into detail about that as i do not what to give away any spoilers. Vivica Fox and Eden Brolin (the daughter of Josh Brolin and Alice Adair) also appear. The movie is split into chapters, some of present and some that go back to past times to give you the insight into the characters. I will say that the movie is very slow to build, i know you have to character build, but at times it seemed to drag. There are very good points that happen to, so please continue and don't give up on it. The black comedy elements are funny and will bring a smile to your face, if you like that, it also has some violent scenes too. Clark has elements in this movie that would not be out of place in a Quentin Tarantino movie. The guy has talent and i think will be one to watch for in the future as this will be no doubt a learning curve. I think that due to the pandemic, this movie has been wrongly chosen to be streamed, and released before a cinema audience saw it. I think that the big screen may have helped to launch the movie, rather than being a movie on TV that you can just turn off before it gets to the good bits.
Review of Arkansas
